
liook "^ 4 /C y<^ 



/ 

REPORT 



PROCEEDINGS AND VIEWS y: /;r-p 



OF THE 



TAU'NTON vUNIO.N. 

For tbe Relief and Improvement of the 

COLORED RACE; 

TOGETHER WITH THE 

CONSTITUTION 

OF THE SOCIETY, 



LIST OF OFFICERS, 

CHOSEN, MAY, 1835. 



PUBLISHED BY THE BOARD OF 
MANAGERS. 



TAUNTON: 
PRINTED BY BRADFORD & AMSBCRf"* 

1835. 



y^f 



PREFACE. 



The Citizens of Taunton, feeling a deep interest in the degraded 
condition of the Colored population of our country, yet, disposed to 
do nothing in the premises, unwarranted by the obligations, which 
they owe the institutions of the land, or inconsistent wiih the plain 
precepts of humanity, have, aftei- ,i th(iroii<;li investigation of the 
subject of Slavery as it exists amonfj us, seen fit to form a Union 
SociETT, having for its object the Rehef of tlie Colored Race gen- 
erally. The field is large, sufficiently large, they think, to move 
efficiently in the cause, and that with great effect, without striking at 
the root of our well established institutions, endangering the Consti- 
tution, and through it, the welfare and happiness of twelve miUions 
of People. 

The Citizens of this place have held several Public Meetings, at 
the Town Hall, at which the above subject has been fully discussed 
by gentlemen well qualified Tt the task. — At one of which, the fol- 
lowing gentlemen were appointed a Committee to embody the views 
of the meeting, and to report the form of a Constitution, 

Rev. ANDREW BIGELOW, 
Hon. JAMES L. HODGES, 
Mr. JOSEPH DIXON, 
Hon. FRANCIS BAYLIES, 
JAMES SPROAT, Esq., 
Mr. S. O. DUNBAR, 
H. G. O. COLBY, Esq., 
JOSEPH L. LORD, Esq., 
Mr. J. C. YOUNG, 
Rev. JOHN B. DODS, and 
HORATIO PRATT, Esq. 

At a subsequent meeting of the Citizens, the Committee offered 



the Report and Constitution which will be found in the following 
pages, which were severally adopted. Thereupon, the Society was 
formed, and is destined, it is believed, to increasing importance and 
growing usefulness. Being a Peace Society, we do not venture to 
recriminate, or denounce. We are Abolitionists, as we think, in the 
proper sense of the term ; we are Colonizationists ; we are Unionists 
on Constitutional principles, and would cherish and spread afar the 
spirit of brotherly Kindness and Charity, 
Taunton, June, 1835, 



AMONr.|the benevolent enterprises of the age, most interesting la 
this people as an important member of t!ic family of nations, that 
which invites the energies of the Christian and the Patriot to tlie 
eventual rescue of millions of human beings within our own borders 
from the condition of abject servitud?"; claims our profound consider- 
ation. And, it is believed, no one, who has engaged in the se- 
rious contemplation of this great subject will refuse his assent to 
these pro[)ositions. — That the subject of slavery is an enormous 
evil, both in a moral and political point of view : — that the con- 
dition of those subject to it, ought to be ameliorated, and; that 
all proper and lawful measures ought to be adopted for the im- 
provement of the condition of the whole colored race, and for the 
progressive emancipation of that portion whose servitude can be 
safely exchanged for civil freedom. In regard to the first pro- 
position, while it commands the acquiescence of the benevolent 
and reflecting every where, especially of those devoted to the pre- 
valence of equal rights in a land blessed, above all others, with 
civil and religious liberty, may, by its mere abstractness, obscure 
or postpone circumstances in themselves of vital importance to 
the existence of ^/irtf ve/\i/ liberty. It is not ditHcult to find in 
every Commonwealth or State either on this, or the other side of 
the Atlantic, institutions absolutely wrong in principle, and, of 
course, injurious in some of their effects; and yet, for sound and 
obvious reasons the people adected by them, prefer either their 
gradual mitigation and change or, their continual toleration, un- 
til public safety, the high end and aim of civil governments, shall 
justify the use of the strong hand ofexcission or subversion. Nor 
do the wise and benevolent, in any country abroad, venture to re- 
vive the spirit that sent forth, in the middle ages of Christianity, 
H armies to correct the abuses, or to punish the wickedness of 
1 Foreign lands. The Turks had captured Jerusalem and 
1 thus desecrated the holiest of cities. This aroused the ferviours 
1 of Peter, the hermit. I will rouse, said he, to the captives, the 
f martial nations of Europe in your cause, and Europe was obedi- 
% ent to the summons. We are not ignorant where lies the martial 
^ strengthof this country, but we trust, it will not be roused from 
,' I its manly rest, — it will not be evoked to battle with friends and 
[^ brethren, in a cause theirs alone to mitigate, to suffer or to re- 
move. The example, most recent and most appalling presented 
by France when slie proclaimed her philosophy, false and desola- 



img in polilics am! religion, as it wns lo the souls of men, and 
fatal lo millions oi" human lives as its sanguinary progress among 
the nations, had but too deplorably proved, will not be adduced, 
it is hoped, to justify another similar iiUorference on the part of 
one community, however inspired with a supposed philanthropy, 
with the dearest interests and sacred rights of another. Liberty, 
freedom, by whatever name personal exemption from the power 
of a master may be called, is undoubtedly a fit object of desire 
and pursuit. Yet it may be pursued and even gained at a sacti- 
fice crreater than the benefit conferred. The learned and excen- 
tric Jeremy Taylor gives an anecdote, somewhat in point. St. 
Louis, Kin'T of France sentlvo. Bishop ofChatres on an Embassy. 
The Bishop returned and informed the king, that he met a grave 
and stately matron on theway^, with a censer of fire in one hand, 
and a vessel of water in the other; and observing her to have a 
remarkably religious and phantastic deportment and look, he 
asked her what those symbols meant, and what she meant to do 
with her fire and water ? she answered, my purpose is with the 
fire to burn paradise, and with my water to quench the flames of 
hell, that men may serve God, purely for the love of God. So, 
purely for the love of liberty, regardless of the existing association 
of circumstances or of probable consequences, the immediate ab- 
olition of Slavery is preached, and to be effected, not, perha[3# in- 
tentionally, by the preachers or partizans of the cause, through 
the agency oi" fire and water, but we have no doubt, the new a- 
potheosis they would render to civil liberty, would, be celebrated 
by the instrumentality of those elements of nature, in combina- 
tions as direful and elToctive as human skill and malignity can 
devise. That passion, revenge, whose universality and cruelty 
in man, it is the noble aim and peculiar duty of Christianity to 
subdue, will have a sway, which, flames may, indeed, illustrate 
with the horrors of a servile war, but which many waters cannot 
quench. We would honor the cause of human liberty but we 
would not distress or disgrace the cause of humanity. 

These general remarks naturally spring from considering 
measures, so vehemently urged, as we have lately witnessed, 
with a view to the immediate and entire abolition of Slavery in 
certain States in our Confederacy. These states, in relation to 
their possession and management of a slave population, are as 
truly independent of other states, as are the distant nations of the 
world, of each other. The national Constitution, we all know, is 
a document imparting none but specific or necessarily implied 
powers, explicitly declaring all others to be reserved to the States, 
respectively. And, moreover, it takes special notice, by recognition 
and provision, of the institution of Slavery, as pertaining, cxclu- 
siveli/, to the sovereignty of the States. Perhaps in no aspect of 
that grave, yet much vexed and abused instrument, the Consti- 
tution, can we perceive a more clear demarcation of individ- 
ual State power on the one hand, and exclusion of all other, 
whether of the Union, or, of co-ordinate states, on the other, that 



l^s there presented ia relation to tliis subject. Here, then, we 
meet a political impediment which should restrain the true patri- 
ot from a course o(' imprudent interference, whose results, com- 
mencing in impudent rashness, may very naturally, grow to an- 
archy, violence, murder and the universal dissolution of the fab- 
ric of our national entity. Still, the philanthropist need not be 
deterred from prosecuting a feasible plan of benevolence toward 
the Slaves because he may not rush into the temple of our com- 
rrion, political salvation, with a blazing torch, or may not apply it 
td^me of its dark and noisome appendages. No, that cause, 
true to its origin and to its tendencies, whose object is the doing- 
much good, and avoiding and removing all possible evil, need 
not forego'the use of the numerous.multiform agencies which may 
be put forth for the melioration of the whole colored race, and 
the gradual liberation of the enslaved. And we would point to 
some of the means which may properly be employed in aid of 
this great and good cause. Tiie education, moral and religious 
of the free blacks, throughout our wide country, in the non slave- 
holding as well as the slave holding States, demands the strenuous 
and constant exertions of the enlightened and benevolent. To 
this great class much and permanent good, pure and free from 
peril may and ought to be effected by organized bodies. The 
inculcation of moral and religious truth on the minds and hearts 
of the e«5/are^, and their still more minute and business aiding 
instruction, with the consent of their masters, is an imperative du- 
ty on those who would prepare the bondman for freedom. To 
this end, moral suasion must be used, to convince the master and 
the mistress who will listen to the friendly appeal, of their deep- 
responsibilities, of their bounden duty, and of their perils wheth- 
er immediate or contingent ; — in short, being the almost absolute 
controllers of the destinies of their fellow men in bonds, " of sin, 
of righteousness and of judgment." For, after all the zeal and 
eloquence and toil we witness going forth to preach or to break 
down the deep-rooted institution of Slavery, as it exists in our 
land, these are the persons to whom the language of fraternal re- 
monstrance and counsel must first be addressed ; in whose ears 
alone the tocsin of alarm must be sounded, and from whom a- 
lone can proceed, efficient measures for the redemption of the en- 
slaved. By them, principally, are the evils of the accursed sys- 
tem experienced, to many of them it is an acknowledged burthen, 
and to all, to them and to us, it will eventually prove a fatal ex- 
crescence on the body politic, unless timely measures be adopted 
for its reduction and final extirpation. To this end, much must 
be done within the slave possessing states, to prepare general so- 
ciety and to mature legislation for the probable benefits of manu- 
mission. 

And this vast and difficult work must be done amidst the hom- 
es and citadels of Slavery ; and it will require the forecast and 
caution proper to an untried, perilous and far extending experi- 
ment on a degraded race and the accustomed happiness of free- 



men. Thus, in the lapse ofycars fraught with wise efforts,the Con- 
gress of tlie U. S. may receive the appeal of the Soutliern and 
South western States witli a favor which shall attach tiic cordial 
concurrence of the non slave holtliiifr States in the enactment of 
laws for the care and safety of the freed man and his master. In 
this conviction, we would solicit attention to a fact tvkich the 
piiblic friends of abolitionism seem not to have regarded. Tiiey 
insist on the duty of immediate emancipation, and of conferring on 
the quondam Slaves, the rights and privileges of freemen ; or, as 
some seem to apprehend, this may be too large a boon, they WQuld 
curtail and modify it in form and degree. Now, Civil Lib*ty, 
that which every freeman claims as his inalienable birthright, iu 
this country, knows no neighborhood but that ofabsoluCe Slavery. 
The legal freeman is so absolutely. Under our polity, there can 
be no other rank of men, except minors, insane persons and those 
condemned for crime or supposed violation of standing laws, and 
this class of persons, it is presumed, is not to be taken as the ex- 
ample for the grand accession to the body of the free, contemplat- 
ed by the abolitionists. Have they then duly considered the im- 
portance of extending an equal participation in the rights and 
privileges of freemen to some two or three millions of human be- 
ings, whom, an hitherto unbroken, servile bondage of body ^nd 
mind has made unlit for any condition but that of a degraded 
labor without intellect, or of brutish passions without virtue 1 And 
do they accustom themselves to compare the free and noble in- 
stitutions of our common country with those of any other, even 
with those of England, our Father land, wherein Slavery has 
been abolished 1 No government on earth can bring the Slave 
to a freedom so expansive and so responsible, as our own. The 
liberty of the manumitted of the hither Islands of England, is but 
an exemption from bondage. Those of our country would be- 
come positively free citizens capable of uniting in, and it may be, 
of controling the election of civil officers and legislators. Yes, 
with or without the aid of demagogues and aspirants of our own 
complexion, " our own kiih and kin," they may decide the elec- 
tion of Governors, and Senators and Representatives and even 
that of the Chief Magistrate of the Union, and their voice may 
preponderate in that of Representatives in the, councils of the Na- 
tion. Are we prepared fur such results ? But say the preachers 
of absolute and immediate abolition, *' we do not mean it shall 
take place to-day, or to-morrow, or even next year, but the duty 
is immediately pressing and the sin of Slavery ought instantly to 
be washed out." How is this solemn, moral precept and dicta- 
tion to be understood 1 We say as firmly and as conscientious- 
ly as the abolitionists. Slavery ought to be discontinued and forev- 
er cease to be ; We, too would breathe " the spirit of universal 
emancipation." Cut we would require time, during which appro- 
priate means should be employed to eflect the desired end. It 
would seem, the controversy, in some of its stages, is merely a 
matter of verbal criticism, indeed, a sort of Logomachy. Yet the 



9 

abolilionlats zealously, aye, furiously insist on iUe right, tha duty 
and imperious obligation of immediate emancipation of the entire 
mass of the Slaves ! Well, if this be the true position, we say, 
the emancipated should step forth from their degradation, to enjoy 
equally with ourselves, all the immunities and benefits of citizen- 
ship. To return to the argument, the freed men of the Isles re- 
ferred to, have no such power ; no power of action in the great ma- 
chinery of government, nay, no liberty to approach its remotest 
muniments, in the altitude of citizenship, or with such attributes 
as those with which wo dignify the free, of whatever complexion. 
And we would not pretermit or disparage the fact that our citizens 
have been always pre-eminently educated to civil liberty ; that 
our fathers during many generations understood and enjoyed it, 
that patriarciial colonies of them, brought it hither as among the 
holiest of their possessions, and its light has been shining on their 
posterity with increasing splendor, ever since. Yet, do we not. 
feel the necessity (how often too fearfully !) of appropriating for 
our behoof as men, and, especially as fellow-citizens, all the ap- 
pliances of useful education and liberal learning ? The press 
and the pulpit, the school-room and the university, the frequent 
assemblies of townsmen and the halls of legislation are all found 
necessary to keep alive the spirit of civil and religious liberty in 
ourselves and for its transmission to the extended, crowded host 
of coming generations. Without pursuing this topic further, can 
there be safety, we would not say, benefit, but even the possibility 
of safety, either for our sacred, time-hallowed institutions, or to 
the liberated blacks, shouhl they be suifcred, en masse, or in any 
great numbers, to approach these institutions in the all-pervading 
and tremendous name of equal liberty and equal rights? A mo- 
ment's reflection will convince any one not devoted to a favourite 
scheme of inconsiderate philanthropy, that those who have never 
been able to govGrii themselves and have been brought up under 
no higher motives th.an those peculiar to a state of servitude, can- 
not at a moment and without a fitting education, be capable of self- 
government, much less, of that of the great Commonwealth. The 
Exodus and subsequent history of the Jews under Moses and Aa- 
ron at the command of God, as the Bible informs us, is illustra- 
tive of this point. These Jews had been slaves in Egypt 430 years, 
and were brought out of bondage as destined to an inheritance in 
Canaan. Yet so vile, ignorant and idolatrous were they, that God 
would not leave them to freedom and self-government. And, af- 
ter a severe probation of forty years under the moral law, thun- 
dered into their ears at Mount Sinai, and camp laws and various 
disciplinary regulations as preparative to their enjoyment of the 
promised land, they had not become fit for that great favor, and 
it was not bestowed. They all, but Caleb and Joshua, died in an 
ignorance and wickedness so incorrigible, even under the perpet- 
ual tuition of wise judges nnd rulers appointed under the author- 
ity of Jehovah, as to be unfit for the ble.sfjings and duties cf Lib- 
erty. Hera is a Bible instance, in point, solemnly commendiflj^ 

B 



10 

to our regard, the plan of progressive instruction and gradual 
emancipation. The celebrated Dr. Adam Clarke has this note 
on the 14th verse of the 2d chapter of Exodus. " He, (Moses,) 
saw that the Israelites were not yet prepared to leave their bon- 
•dage and that though God had called him to be their leader, yet 
his providence had not sufficiently opened the way. So that, a 
preparation of mind and morals was requsite for tliese people, even, 
before their departure from Egypt, and afterwards, a severe disci- 
pline and a probation of forty years in the wilderness; and all this 
proved to be ineffectual. Moses was truly a colonizationist. We 
would yield our cordial approval of tlie generous scheme and ef- 
forts of the American Colonization Society, whose benevolence 
has only been limited, by the want of pecuniary mean?, and of 
■that universal co-operation, which it earnestly desires and eminent- 
ly deserves. Comprising as it does nearly all the prominent plans 
of Christian benevolence of the present age, it, moreover, proffers 
the happiest avenue of escape from danger, both to the master 
-and the liberated slave. Thus considered, it comes to the aid of 
the cause of gradual emancipation and will readily and comforta- 
bly transfer the colored freeman, with his own consent, to the land 
of his fathers, nay more, to a community of enlightened, indus- 
trious. Christian freeinen of his own race. Thus may be obviq^d 
the objection which has been urged, founded on the dangers 
apprehended from the emancipation of Slaves, who might, in 
great masses abide, thereafter, in the immediate vicinity of their 
former masters. Enlarge but the operations of the Society and 
the general correction of the impolicy and injustice of the sys- 
tem of Slavery will bs proportionately realized. The Society in- 
tend to effect all that the most sanguine liberators can consid- 
erately desire, unless he shall desire multipled exasperations, 
sufferings and wrongs between the master and the Slave or freed- 
man; or, an unnatural amalgamation of the races; or, an isolated 
settlement of the colored one within our Country's domain. In 
relation to the first of these consequences, enough has already 
been said. The second, supposes an intermingling of blood from 
which all our belter feelings turn with abhorrence, and which, to 
urge, or seriously suggest, is the arousing an indomitable spirit in 
a deservedly proud, intelligent, chivalric race, on the one hand, 
and, to fasten stronger and stronger, to sink deeper and deeper, 
the chains and manacles of Slavery, on the other. 

The other potential plan in the contemplation of the liberators, 
that of a distinct location of the emancipated, we would not, at 
this time, discuss. Its feasibility and advantages, as well as its 
difficulties and dangers can be better understood by those in 
whose neighborhood, it would be brought into operation, and by 
whom, its effects, whether for good or for evil, would be most sen- 
sibly, most extensively and most permanently felt. The Com- 
mittee deeply impressed with a sense of the magnitude of the 
subject before them, and of the solemn duty of relieving and 
roaking better for this world and the next, that great portiou of 



ri 

rur bictliicii, the colored race, boll), those who being free, oaght! 
lo enjoy the full benelits of freedom, and, 

"Tiiose, whose very souls are moulded to the yoke. 

And stamped with servitude" — 
liave turned their attention to the recent " Exposition of the plans 
and objects ot the American Union, for the Relief and Improve- 
ment of the Colored Race." A brief history and synopsis of 
this Society, we will hero present, while we commend to tlie 
Public, the Document referred to. Many distinguished philan- 
thropists, jurists and eminent Christians in our country had — for 
years, contemplated a plan, whereby measures might be put into 
successful and safe operation, 'for the melioration and emancipa- 
tion of the Colored Race, without trenching on the rights of 
individuals or any body of men, and, without exciting sectional 
jealousies, or the dormant energies of servitude. More than one 
hundred of such men coming from ten of the United States, 
assembled in Boston, January 14th, 1835; and with a serious- 
ness and carefulness befitting the momentous occasion, came 
forth to the world under the title we have already named; pro- 
claiming no hostility to any other Society, and making no boast 
of superior piety or a pre-eminent charitif. Let us, then, advert 
lo its avowed intentions and purposes. In the first place, they 
invite all the friends of this cause to associated, local efforts for 
the improvement of the people of color in all our cities and larger 
towns. The Society proposes " religious instruction, by affec- 
tionate, discreet and faithful teachers, to be provided for the free 
colored people, in such forms as may be best suited to their 
wants." They propose " schools to be provided in which every 
colored child shall be enabled to acquire as good an education, 
as is due by birthright to the other inhabitants of this Country. 
They propose the bringing up the children of the emancipated 
to respect-.ible and regular employments. For, lamentably defic- 
ient are these, in the facilities enjoyed by others in gaining an 
adequate acquaintance with the mechanic arts and the diversifi- 
ed business of the social condition. Thus, they would implant 
the principles of common prudence and private economy, of sav- 
ing and self-denial, of individual responsibility and self respect, of 
ho°iest industry and its sure result, the satisfactions of thrift and 
importance in community. They propose " the bringing forward 
promising young men of color and aiding their education in the 
higher branches" of knowledge." These, it is believed, may be 
sent out as preachers of civilization and Christianity, to the desti- 
tute myriads of the colored race in the British Colonies, now 
either emancipated, or passing through the process of emancipa- 
tion. In Hayti, too, it is well understood, such missionaries 
would be well received, where those of our own comple.xion, 
would be resisted or avoided. And we might appeal to the gene- 
rous sympathies of our entire Republic, and, with a fraternal af- 
fection for our Southern brethren, and ask, what may not be th« 
malign influences to them and to us all, when we regard the proK- 



n 

iinity of these Islands to our own sliorcs and the free intercoufise 
subsisting between them and our countrymen ; unless education 
on principles of Christian civilization, which we respect as the 
guardians of our political peace, indeed the very elements of our 
existence, shall be recognized and cherished in those Islands? 
In benighted, wretched Africa, the natal region of the blacks, 
whither the sympathies and prayers of the Christian world are go- 
ing forth with an accelerated energy peculiar to the passing age 
of high moral as well as physical power, the properly trained 
colored men of oar land can do more to enlighten and elevate their 
race, than the combined learning, piety and zeal of our own could 
effect, under the most favorable auspices. The American Union 
proposes to ascertain facts by all proper available means, in relation 
to the condition, moral and religious; free and servile, of the 
whole colored race. This they would do, not for the mere purpose 
oUiaving information but for using it to the effectuating great and 
beneficent results. They invite intelligence from all quarters 
and would be prepared by knowledge, to put forth their great 
plan of improvement and salvation, casting themselves on the 
wisdom of the just and merciful in the cause cf human liberty, 
wherever they may be, and above all, looking to the providence of 
God, whence alone can proceed the consummation of their houes 
and desires. The plan and object of this society, your commit- 
tee, in the main, cordially approve, and in the conviction, that 
no other has hitherto been devised so well calculated to avoid 
evils and to promote substantial, unstained good,iii the grand yet 
perilous enterprize of improving and emancipating the colored 
race, would cheerfully commend tiiis institution to the favor of 
the public, and especidlly those among us who would strive with 
a well regulated Christian energy, and not insanely, against the 
mighty. 

DeprecTting Slavery, as an evil originating in Sin, and to be 
tolerated only by the force of circumstances, and to be abandoned 
so soon as these shall justify the righteous and equitable Act of 
Emancipation ; we would always bend on our Southern brethren, 
an eye of sympathy for the trials and perils to which they are 
subjected, and we would not exacerbate the sources of misery to 
which they are exposed, by a mawkish philanthropy, or a severe 
code of supposed duly utterly at variance with the solemn stipula- 
tions of our entire Confederacy. These stipulations, we have no 
right to annul, nor have we a right to disturb injuriously to either 
party, the ancient, numerous, delicate and difficult relations, 
bubsisting between the master and Slave. Here then we propose 
two principles of action founded in religion and the social com- 
part, in morality and fraternal kindness. On these, we fix our- 
selves, in dissent from modern abolitionism and its awful conse- 
quences. But we would not fold our arms or close our hearts 
against the evils of Slavery. No, as we have already indicated, 
we would hail with gratitude as we would aid with pleasure, all 
Christian, constitutional measures for iheir entire extermination. 



CONSTITUTION. 



ARTICLE I. 

This Society shall be called the " Taunton Union, for the 
Rei.ief and Improvement of the Colored Race." 



ARTICLE IL 

The object of this Association being the benevolent effort to 
promote in all suitable and peaceable ways, the intellectual and 
moral elevation of the Colored Race ; and especially, by collect- 
ing and diffusing usefnl information, and exerting a kind, moral 
innuence, to seek and apply the most judicious, and practicable 
means, for the final extinction of the System of Slavery in our 
land ; it will lend its aid and influence to the " American Union," 
or any other Society, having for its object the same motives and 
principles of action, by which this association will be governed. 

ARTICLE in. 

Any person may become a member of this Society, by signing 
this Constitution. 

ARTICLE IV. 

The officers of this Society shall be a President, two Vice 
Presidents, a Corresponding Secretary, a Recording Secretary, 
and Treasurer, who shall be chosen annually, in such manner as 
the Society shall prescribe, and shall perform the duties incident 
to such offices respectively. 

ARTICLE V. 

There shall also be an executive committee of five members, 
who, together with the Corresponding and Recording Secretaries, 
shall constitute a board of Managers to transact the business of 
the Society. The President, Vice Presidents and Treasurer, shall 
be, El officio, members of the board. 



14 



A RTICLE VI. 

It shall be llie duty of the Recording Secretary, to keep a true 
irecord of the proceedings of the society. 

ARTICLE Vli. 

It shall be the duty of the Treasurer, to take charge of all such 
monies, as may be obtained by subscription or donation in aid of 
the objects of the society, to be appropriated under the direction 
of the board of Managers, for the general purposes mentioned in 
Article 2, of this Constitution. 

A R T I C L E VIII. 

The annual meeting of the Society, shall be held on the third 
Wednesday in May, at which time the officers shall be chosen, a 
report presented from the board of Managers, and such other busi- 
ness be transacted, as may require consideration. 

ARTICLE IX. 

The President of the Society, or in his absence, either of tl>e 
Vice Presidents, may call special meetings of the Association at 
such other times, as they may ihink proper. 

ARTICLE X. 

This Constitution may be altered at any annual meetmg by a 
vote of two thirds of the members present. 



LIST OF OFFICERS 



PRESIDENT, 

Hon. JOHN M. WILLIAMS. 

VICE PRESIDENTS. 

First Hon. JAMES L. HODGES, 

Second Hon. FRANCIS BAYLIES. 

CORRESPONDING SECRETARY, 

Rev. ANDREW BIGELOW. 

RECORDING SECRETARY, 

HORATIO PRATT, Esq. 

TR E ASUR E R, 

HIRAM M. BARNEY, Esq. 

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, 

Mr. JOSEPH DIXON, 
JAMES SPROAT, Esq., 
CHARLES RICHMOND, Esq, 
H. G. O. COLBY, Esq. 
Mh. THOMAS C. BROWN. 



